Gracias, Gabriel

Since I was 15, I've spent countless hours reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novels and short stories, and have always looked forward to his next creation. And though I cannot say "unfortunately" (since I was fortunate enough to be seduced and touched by his magical realism), I am truly saddened that there will not be a new Gabriel Garcia Marquez story to enjoy and contemplate.

Words cannot begin to describe the power Gabriel Garcia Marquez possessed as a storyteller. Nor can they convey his incredible imagination or the depths of his empathy when it came to the characters he created and the worlds in which they lived. Suspended by the supernatural and weighted by the hardness of the human condition, each Garcia Marquez story revealed the beauty and despair of life; and they were mesmerizing.

Thank you, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, for sharing your stories with all of us; we are richer and more humbled for them.

To learn more about Gabriel Garcia Marquez, please read his obituary in the New York Times.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1927-2014
photo from Cordoba Times